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Date:      Fri, 12 Jan 2001 10:13:11 -0600
From:      "Josh Paetzel" <jpaetzel@hutchtel.net>
To:        "Kevin J. Menard, Jr." <kmenard@WPI.EDU>
Cc:        <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: Re[2]: 4.2 install hanging
Message-ID:  <007201c07cb2$a2e9fb40$6100000a@MARK8>
References:  <1261509784.20010111163125@wpi.edu> <004101c07c33$5cacaad0$6100000a@MARK8> <10434107518.20010112030407@wpi.edu>

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin J. Menard, Jr." <kmenard@WPI.EDU>
To: "Josh Paetzel" <jpaetzel@hutchtel.net>
Cc: <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2001 2:04 AM
Subject: Re[2]: 4.2 install hanging


> Hello Josh,
>
> Thursday, January 11, 2001, 8:02:39 PM, you wrote:
>
>
> JP> ----- Original Message -----
> JP> From: "Kevin J. Menard, Jr." <kmenard@WPI.EDU>
> JP> To: <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
> JP> Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2001 3:31 PM
> JP> Subject: 4.2 install hanging
>
>
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> I am trying to install FreeBSD 4.2, but my install keeps hanging.
> >> Usually it hangs when "copying bin to /", but once i got past that
> >> stage and it hung while "copying doc to /".  I've noticed this issue
> >> on other releases and on different hardware.  I dunno if I just have
> >> bad luck, or what have you.
> >>
> >> I've tried installing directly from the CD, and I've used the CD to
> >> boot up and try to install from FTP; both failed -- many times.
> >>
> >> In this case, I am installing to a 3Ware 5000 series Escalade
> >> controller, so I don't know if that would make a difference, though my
> >> understanding was with 4.2, there was full support for the card.
> >>
> >> Any suggestions?
> >>

I was taking a look through the handbook and I don't see that controller as
being supported.  Just out of curiosity, I wonder where you saw that it was
supported?  Perhaps there is a better place to look than the handbook for
hardware compatability that I don't know about.

>
> JP> What hardware are you installing on?  Also, press F2 during the
install to
> JP> get the debugging screen...I am pretty sure there will be an
informative
> JP> error message there when it hangs.  Knowing the error message will
help us
> JP> figure out what the problem is.
>
> I'm assuming you meant Alt-F2.  I had to do the entire installation
> procedure in this screen, because when the system locks up, it will
> not allow me to switch ttys.
>

Yes....that is what I meant.  Sorry.  In this case I don't think that the
error message is all that informative.


> Here are the last five lines i have, from my cd install:
> bin/hostname
> bin/kill
> bin/ln
> /stand/cpio: bin/ln linked to bin/link
> bin/link
>
> then it locked up
>
> doing an install from ftp5.freebsd.org appears to have gotten me
> closer:
>
> /stand/cpio: sbin/mount_std linked to sbin/mount_procfs
> sbin/mount_procfs
> sbin/mout_umap
> sbin/mount_union
> sbin/mountd
>
> doing an install from ftp5.freebsd.org (ftp passive option)
> appears to have gotten me yet even closer:
>
> usr/include/g++/cerrno
> usr/include/g++/cfloat
> usr/include/g++/cisco646
> usr/include/g++/climits
> usr/include/g++/clocale
>
> and then that locked up
>
> another attempt at the ftp passive option through ftp5.freebsd.org
> (seeing as that got me the furthest), yielded:
>
> usr/include/g++/set.h
> usr/include/g++/slist
> usr/include/g++/slist.h
> usr/include/g++/stack
> usr/include/g++/stack.h
>
> I did notice that two of the lights on my 3ware card were still lit,
> but there was no drive activity.  perhaps the drivers have not
> progressed as well as we would have liked?  and i know that the drives
> work as I was running a mandrake-7.0 system (customized kernel) with
> the 4 port card.  It just seems that it is very random when the
> install all of a sudden quits.  I must've tried a good 30 times
> already.  i could understand the ftp option stalling a bit (though i
> was pumping out at least 220K/s), but then recovering.  I don't know
> how to explain the cd's failure.
>
> So anyone have any suggestions now?  If it is indeed the RAID card,
> should I try to install to another HDD and then copy the data over to
> the RAID?  But i'm wondering if i'm having such instability issues
> now, what i may face in the future :(
>

I don't know if I have the definitive answer for this, but I will tell you
how I would proceed, and also give you the reasoning behind my suggestion.

1) I would attempt to install onto the same computer using the ftp site, but
instead of using the RAID controller I would use a standard SCSI adapter
that is known to be good under FreeBSD (perhaps the Adaptec 2940)

2) If no other SCSI controller is available, then I would try to install
onto the same computer with an IDE drive.

Reasoning:  I don't think that you are having an issue with the installation
medium, as you have tried two different ftp sites, and a cdrom.  I don't
think you are having an issue with your NIC, as the cdrom install failed as
well.  I have had a lot of trouble with FreeBSD and RAID controllers.  I
haven't had all that much luck with SCSI adapters, either.  The RAID adapter
is the first thing that I would suspect.  Eliminating that from the picture
will at least tell you if it is the problem.

Hope this helps.
Josh

> --
> Best regards,
>  Kevin                            mailto:kmenard@wpi.edu
>
>
>



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